Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 141, Issue -, Pages 408-415Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.07.045
Keywords
Moral competence; Individual differences; Functional connectivity; Resting-state fMRI; Amygdala
Funding
- NIH [R03 DA 027098, R01 HL102119, R21 DA032022, R01 MH107571, P30 NS045839]
- Center for Functional Neuroimaging
- Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research
- Mack Institute at the Wharton School
- Program for Professors of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning [TP2016020]
- Chinese NSF [31070984, 31400872]
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Moral competence (MC) refers to the ability to apply certain moral orientations in a consistent and differentiated manner when judging moral issues. People greatly differ in terms of MC, however, little is known about how these differences are implemented in the brain. To investigate this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and examined resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in n = 31 individuals with MC scores in the highest 15% of the population and n = 33 individuals with MC scores in the lowest 15%, selected from a large sample of 730 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. Compared to individuals with lower MC, individuals with higher MC showed greater amygdala-ventromedial prefrontal connectivity, which may reflect better ability to cope with emotional conflicts elicited by moral dilemmas. Moreover, individuals with higher MC showed less inter-network connectivity between the amygdalar and fronto-parietal networks, suggesting a more independent operation of these networks. Our findings provide novel insights into how individual differences in moral judgment are associated with RSFC in brain circuits related to emotion processing and cognitive control. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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